What started out as a simple story that stemmed from a conversation Knoxville News Sentinel Tennessee football beat reporter Evan Woodbery had with UT athletic director Dave Hart turned into something much, much bigger.

Unlike many SEC football programs, which have solid recruiting bases within a 100-mile radius of their school, the University of Tennessee is different.

If you draw a circle around Knoxville, those area recruits, as a whole, wouldn’t match up to the ones found around, say, Tuscaloosa or Auburn, Ala., or Gainesville, Fla., or Athens, Ga.

The Vols get most of their recruits from outside of east Tennessee, which creates a national search and all the potential pitfalls that come with trying to get out-of-state players to commit to a program they didn’t grow up around.

While searching for a new head coach to replace Derek Dooley, the Tennessee athletic department put together a recruiting packet and presented it to applicants to show them some of the challenges UT faced in recruiting, and to get a coach’s feedback on how they’d handle the hurdles the program faces.

“That piqued my interest, and it started as a simple, small story, then ballooned up,” Woodbery said during the morning session of the APSE Southeast Region meeting on April 29 in Birmingham, Ala.

More than 450 Tennessee football players and 19 recruiting classes later, Woodbery had compiled a database that gave his readers a window into Tennessee recruiting as far as where the Vols were getting their players.

“We wanted to show where they get the athletes from and what was going on when they were consistently nationally ranked to the last few years when they weren’t,” Woodbery said. “It was a good way of saying, ‘Here’s where they were, here’s where they are now and here’s where they were in the middle.’”

Woodbery started with former head coach Phillip Fulmer’s first full recruiting class in 1994 — which also happened to be Peyton Manning’s class — and entered every player that signed with UT football up to the current roster.

There were five criteria that Woodbery entered into his “simple” Google spreadsheet: geography, earning a letter, All-SEC, drafted by NFL and spent at least one season on NFL roster.

That data was able to tell him the geographic midpoint of each class and how successful they were during their time on the team, and, conversely, how good the team was while those recruits were there.

Woodbery was careful in his story, which was accompanied graphs and charts in both print and online, that geography wouldn’t fully explain the reasons for success or failure each football season, but it did verify some areas in the country that have been good to the Vols in terms of getting quality athletes who have helped the team have success.

“Geography is just one issue,” Woodbery said. “It’s interesting, but it’s not going to solve all the problems. It did verify that there are prospects in some areas that are ‘getable’ for coaches.”

The hardest part of the story was just entering the data, Woodbery said.

“It was tedious,” he said, adding he did a lot of the data entry over a few weeks to help break it up.

After the numbers were in, though, putting together the charts — Woodbery used mostly Google software and applications — was pretty easy. And telling.

“I think it answered some questions … it had things that people already knew,” Woodbery said. “I think a lot of the conclusions did interest people.”

It’s been seven months since Advance Publications rolled out its plan for the future: Cutting some of its major metros down to a three-day-a-week print schedule while beefing up their online presence. 

Last month at the APSE Southeast Region Meeting in Birmingham, members from the first two groups to forge the trail — al.com and NOLA.com — talked about the challenges they’ve had to face, while also relating some of the successes.

The hardest challenge that the print product has had to face in the first year is figuring out which stories are relevant to the newspaper, which sometimes prints days after stories go live online, said former Birmingham News sports editor Tom Arenberg, who is now the print content manager for sports and news for the Birmingham News, Mobile Press-Register and Huntsville Times print products.

“My job is to look over the many, many offerings online and pick what goes into print for our three days of newspaper,” Arenberg said. “(At first) it was very difficult. It remains somewhat difficult because of some of the logistical issues, like, what do you put in the paper that’s not new anymore?”

The three Alabama Media Group papers of Advance print Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, which is the same for the New Orleans Times-Picayune (NOLA.com).

Other challenges the print products face, according to Arenberg, are what to do with the “nuts and bolts” of sports coverage, like agate for professional and college sports, as well as “live coverage.”

“We have quit becoming a newspaper of record,” Arenberg said. “Your basic game reports, you’re not going to find in the paper day to day.

“Generally speaking our focus is anything … that’s not live news. There’s no point to focusing on basic live-news coverage when you’re only publishing three days a week.”

However, the Alabama papers are able to still provide their readers with the bread-and-butter of sports coverage in the state: college football.

Since Sunday is a normal print day, all the state’s college football coverage is able to get into print.

“We’re not out of the business there,” Arenberg said, adding that they also do a “bulldog” prep edition on Saturdays for all the high school football coverage.

Arenberg added, that if something is important enough, or if they can sell enough advertising for it, they’ll put out a print product that’s might not fall on their three-day schedule. Same for the Times-Picayune, which prints a Monday supplement for all its New Orleans Saints coverage.

“Saturday college football is on our print cycle, so there’s not much change there,” Arenberg said. “If there’s something major, we’re going to have something up.

“As a general rule, our non-football Sundays are enterprise stories, deep-feature stories, something like that (will get printed).

“I think there’s a huge group of people who are getting the quick-hits online, they don’t have time to get everything online, but hopefully they’re seeing the print as a supplement.”

There have been successes as well.

Doug Tatum, the sports manager for NOLA.com, said that in a time where newspaper staffs are being cut, he’s been able to add seven positions over the last year who are all digital reporters.

“Before we had 13 reporters and four managers … now have 20 reporters and four managers,” Tatum said. “We’ve seen an increase and deep commitment to expanding our sports coverage.

“There’s a deep commitment to making our coverage of the market better.”

With the money the company is saving from not printing four days a week, there’s more resources to go around.

“What this has done for us is, before I was dealing with furlough, cutting travel, less reporters. Now I have resources,” Tatum said.

And those resources are essential, especially in a market like New Orleans that has NFL and NBA franchisees, as well as plenty of interest in college football (particularly LSU), and hosted a Super Bowl this year.

“We reported from Monday through the following Monday, non-stop,” Tatum said of their coverage of the Super Bowl, which included a near-30-minute blackout. “We did probably did 10-12 different update in real-time during that delay. I think that shows the importance of digital: Giving what people need to know when it happens.”

 

Here’s how the panels went:

9:30 to 10:20: A chat with Coquese Washington, Penn State women’s basketball coach.

Communication is harder than ever these days for young adults, which is why Coquese Washington focuses on it daily with her young women. It’s not the only focus, though.

The Penn State Lady Lions head coach covered that and more, speaking before a packed room to kick-off the APSE Mid-Atlantic region meeting.

“One of things that we spend a ton of time on with our team is teaching these kids how to talk to each other, to coaches, to the media, and not just to you guys [the media], but how you communicate effectively, and positively, to other people,” Washington said. “They don’t know how to give compliments. It’s really, really interesting that this age has made it easier for us to communicate, but also much more difficult for kids to communicate with people face to face.”

Coming off her sixth season at the helm of Penn State’s program, Washington described herself as competitive to the obsessive, while also noting that she and other college head coaches are CEOs of their respective programs. They are in control of the growth and resources of a program, along with expectations of success, too.

Washington also fielded questions about current events, including taking on the hot topics in the college basketball world: the firing, and actions that led to it, of Rutgers head coach Mike Rice; the addition of the Scarlet Knights, plus Maryland, to the Big Ten; and life as a non-revenue sport coach.

“First of all, I’m thrilled that Rutgers and Maryland are joining our conference. It’s certainly going to make our conference much more competitive,” she said. 

“Those are two of the marquee programs in the country. It’s just going to be great for women’s basketball.

“I think that it’s no secret that decisions are made for football, and decisions have always been made for football,” Washington continued. “Football is the economic engine that runs college sports, so I have no problems with it at all. Until you’re in a position where you’re having an impact on the financial outcome, you have very little say. And that’s business.”

As for Rice, Washington noted her belief that physical abuse crosses the line. However, she was quick to point out that motivation by men’s and women’s coaches to men’s and women’s players tend to differ a good bit.

Washington went on to add that women need to be built up to what she termed “another level of confidence,” one that men might already have. The Lion coach provided anecdotal evident of this fact, relaying that her nephew, who she described as an “OK player,” believes he will one day play in the NBA, while the top female recruits in the country struggle to believe they are good enough to play at the highest level.

“Every person has a different approach to discipline on the court, to motivation on the court, and I think that’s a personal thing. For me, and our program, one of the important things we do is build very strong relationships with our players when we’re recruiting them,” Washington said.

“It’s important to me that I know who I’m talking to, and what they need to me in order to get them to perform the way that I know they’re capable of performing, and the way they want to perform. And I think that might be a female thing.”

Washington’s session, as well as the rest of the sessions from the daylong event can be found at the APSE website, courtesy of the Penn State John Curley Center for Sports Journalism.
 

— Greg Pickel, Penn State sophomore and APSE student member

10:30 to 11:30: We’ll talk about putting together a top-notch project/special section, and get the input from three editors whose papers were recent top 10 winners for project or special section: Mike Harris, Washington Times; Judy Connelly, Middletown (N.Y.) Herald-Review; Steve Feitl, Asbury (N.J.) Park Press. 

The three editors discussed the publishing process of their award winning special sections and emphasized teamwork among all staffs. Harris and his staff previewed the much-anticipated arrival of quarterback Robert Griffin III to the Washington Redskins, emphasizing Washington, D.C., as a “quarterback town.”

Branching outside of the sports world, Connelly and her staff focused on sexual violence in youth recreational sports in light of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, but this idea became a community-wide section.

Feitl aimed to reinvent the way his staff covered high school sports. Because it was an election year, he said, he found a way to build out the special section throughout the year and interact with readers.

Each editor said the planning began anywhere from six weeks to three months ahead of time.

“Special sections are the one time we go all hand on deck with the staff,” Harris said. “We might start three months out with planning.”

Teamwork is a big emphasis in designing a special section, as Connelly said each member of the staff has their own area of expertise that they bring to the table.

Feitl said winning the award and working on the special section was a shining moment for his staff.

Often there is a fine line between print coverage and the online version of a special section, but Harris said his staff put the full PDF file on the front page of the website.

While Connelly created a microsite that had live video and a live chat for the length of time that the section was running. Feitl said that they had polls online and all of the stories were linked together, but said he would have liked to have done more videos and other aspects.

“The staff liked coming together and they like to put out something big,” Connelly said. “Some of them are very competitive and they kind of like to outdo each other.”

Harris said that planning a special section involves the entire staff, including other departments in the building that see final budget for sales and marketing.

— Katie McKenna, Penn State student and member of the school’s AWSM chapter

11:45 to 12:15: A couple of us have switched to a three-day-a-week paper. Paul Vigna, PA Media Group sports manager, and Hank Domin, managing producer for sports for Syracuse Media Group, will explain a little bit about what that world is like. 

Domin said that most of the negative feedback of cutting down to three days a week has been split between age groups. “The older generation seems to care more [that there isn’t print], but the younger folks realize that there are more stories [online],” Domin said.

Both publications publish a paper on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. However, every day there are updates and stories around the clock on the web.

“It is strange to walk into the office on Sunday night and to have only a police writer and one writer besides yourself in the office,” Vigna said.

Domin arrived at Syracuse.com four months ago to a job he was unaccustomed to. He said he has been kept separate from the rest of the newsroom, as his position is managing producer for college sports. He is charge of curating content for the newspaper, finding stories on the web to fill two-thirds of the sports section.

“It has been a huge difference in thinking, every part of the job,” Domin said.

Vigna said that he has had much of the same experience at PennLive.com. As sports manager, he now has given up a lot of control about what goes into the section. He noted one of the differences in the operation now is the idea of posting everything online before it goes in the paper. That’s true even for print staples such as season previews and all-star teams.

PennLive.com went to three days a week on Jan. 1, making Vigna’s job a little bit more difficult because it was in the middle of the high school season instead of between seasons.
— Megan K. Flood, Penn State student and president of the school’s AWSM chapter 

1:15 to 2:15: The use of analytics for sports organizations and sports writers. Rob Shaw and Jamal Salmon, both of Bloomberg Sports, and Patrick Stevens, formerly of Washington Times, will offer a presentation and answer questions.

The group discussed the vastly increasing interest in sports analytics. From broadcast to print to online, there is hunger and need for data analysis. It ranges from deep saber-metrics to less intricate numbers. 

"We're all looking for different ways to tell stories and I think this is a great way to do it," Domin said. "It gets to a different audience than you normally would."

Shaw explained how Bloomberg analyzes and manipulates data to "try to tell a story with numbers."

"There is quite an appetite for analytics," Shaw said.

For example, 26 of 30 Major League Baseball teams as well as many of their affiliates are contracted with Bloomberg to provide analyzed data.

Salmon spoke about NBA statistics, specifically his analysis of the Los Angeles Lakers' Dwight Howard and perhaps why he was struggling to perform early this season.

He created a matrix to rate individual defensive performance that he called "Bark vs. Bite." The results show which NBA players stop opponents from getting to the rim, as well as stopping them from scoring when they get there.

"Presenting this type of info in easy-to-understand graphics helps reader," Salmon said.

Stevens explained how data analysis, especially with online platforms can be a big advantage.

"One of the beauties of having blogs at this point," he said," is in the past you file an 18-inch story and that's all you got. Maybe you find something interesting and toss a nugget in and it’s in the eighth paragraph and nobody pays attention to it. Now you can flesh all that stuff out in a very useful way for everyone involved.

"That is something than has really provided an opportunity to expanded what everyone is looking for. Provide an extra platform, minimize research in a way to add something you couldn't have added in the past."

Added Domin: "On the web, it can be as long or as short as you want."

— Chris Imperiale, Scranton Time-Tribune sports editor

2:30 to 3:30: Finding a place (still) for the long-form story, Frank Fitzpatrick, Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Frank Fitzpatrick has won many APSE awards during his 30-plus years as a sports writer and he was very succinct when he spoke about long-form journalism.

“A long time ago, a sports editor gave some smart advice,” Fitzpatrick said. “Find an interesting topic and write the hell out of it.”

Fitzpatrick talked about his series on wrestling, which ran in 2011 in conjunction with and leading up to the NCAA championships in Philadelphia. Fitzpatrick found an interesting topic, the small towns in rural Pennsylvania where wrestling is a religion, and wrote the hell out of it. http://articles.philly.com/2011-01-30/sports/27091255_1_wrestlers-cael-sanderson-towns

Inquirer sports editor John Quinn acknowledged that getting the proper space on a regular basis as well as devoting staff members to projects both short term and long term is key.

3:45 to 5: Reverse panel with Penn State students.

News of the bombing broke during Fitzpatrick’s discussion, and many in the audience began to follow the news via Twitter. It provided a compelling backdrop for the reverse panel, where many of the editors who attended the conference took questions from a dozen students.

Much of the conversation centered on how to cover a story like the bombings, especially with so much information getting tangled with misinformation. There were several points where news that was reported as found to be incorrect, serving as outstanding talking points for students with their reporting careers ahead of them. The session ran until 5, with editors heading home and students heading to the nearest TVs.

ALL DIVISIONS

INVESTIGATIVE
1. Walt Bogdanich, Joe Drape, Dara L. Miles and Griffin Palmer, The New York Times
2. Mike Vorkunov and Craig Wolff, The Star-Ledger (Newark, N.J.)
3. Dan Kane and Andrew Carter, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
4. Adrian Wojnarowski, Rand Getlin, Yahoo! Sports
5. Keith Sharon and Frank Mickadeit, The Orange County Register
Honorable mention
Ronald J. Hansen and Anne Ryman, The Arizona Republic
Jack Dolan, Ruben Vives and Gary Klein, Los Angeles Times
Teri Thompson, Bill Madden, Michael O’Keeffe, Nathaniel Vinton and Christian Red, New York Daily News 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Jim Owczarski, OnMilwaukee.com
Rachel George, USA TODAY
 

OVER 175,000

BREAKING NEWS
1. Pat Forde, Yahoo! Sports
2. Michael Silver, Yahoo! Sports
3. Mary Carmichael, Boston Globe
T4. Baxter Holmes, Los Angeles Times
T4. Jeff McLane, Philadelphia Inquirer
Honorable mention
Craig Harris, The Arizona Republic
Michael O’Keeffe, New York Daily News
Mark Zeigler, UT San Diego
Sally Jenkins, The Washington Post
Mark Maske, Mike Jones, Mike Wise, Jason Reid, The Washington Post
 

FEATURES
1. Christian Red, New York Daily News
2. Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports
3. Barry Bearak, The New York Times
4. Eric Prisbell, USA TODAY
5. Wright Thompson, ESPN.com
Honorable mention
Jared S. Hopkins, Chicago Tribune
Joe Posnanski, Sports on Earth
Matthew Stanmyre, The Star-Ledger (Newark, N.J.)
John C. Cotey, Tampa Bay Times
Barry Svrluga, The Washington Post
 

COLUMNS
1. Jen Floyd Engel, FoxSports.com 1 2 3 4 5
2. Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press
3. Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
4. Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times
5. Scott Miller, CBSSports.com
Honorable mention
Gregg Doyel, CBSSports.com
Harvey Araton, The New York Times
Marcia C. Smith, The Orange County Register
Mark Whicker, The Orange County Register
Gary Shelton, Tampa Bay Times
 

EXPLANATORY
1. John Branch, The New York Times
2. Greg A. Bedard, Boston Globe
3. Jill Lieber Steeg, U-T San Diego
4. Barry Svrluga, Jenna Johnson and Alex Prewit, The Washington Post
5. Kent Babb, The Kansas City Star
Honorable mention
Jodie Valade, Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
David Waldstein, The New York Times
Mike Jensen, Philadelphia Inquirer
Jerry Zgoda and Dennis Brackin, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
 

BEAT WRITING
1. Pat Forde, Yahoo! Sports
2. Scott M. Reid, The Orange County Register
3. Judy Battista, The New York Times
4. Steve Hummer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
5. Dan Wiederer, The Star Tribune (Minneapolis) 1 2 3 4 5
Honorable mention
Benjamin Hochman, The Denver Post
Jesse Temple, FoxSports.com
Tania Ganguli, Houston Chronicle
Joey Knight, Tampa Bay Times
Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
 

75,000-175,000
 
BREAKING NEWS
1. Kyle Veazey and Geoff Calkins, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.)
2. Michael C. Lewis, The Salt Lake Tribune
3. Bob Fortus, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.)
4. Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News
5. Joe Giglio, The News & Observer
Honorable mention
Mark Emmert, Des Moines Register
Megan Boehnke, Matt Lakin, Knoxville News Sentinel
Evan Woodbery, Knoxville News Sentinel
Laura Keeley, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Dan Nakaso and Ferd Lewis, Honolulu (Hawaii.) Star-Advertiser (Honolulu, Hawaii)
 

FEATURES
1. Dirk Chatelain, Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald
2. Andy Bitter, Roanoke (Va.) Times
3. Scott Fowler, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer
4. Darryl Slater, The Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.)
5. Jason Kersey, The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City)
Honorable mention
Phil Richards, Indianapolis Star
Brian Heyman, The Journal News (White Plains, N.Y.)
Kevin Tresolini, The News Journal (Wilmington, Del.)
Luke DeCock, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
Jeff Lockridge, The Tennessean
 

COLUMNS
1. Geoff Calkins, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.)
2. Jenni Carlson, The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) 1 2 3 4 5
3. Jon Solomon, The Birmingham News
4. Tara Sullivan, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.)
5. Mike Finger, San Antonio Express-News 1 2 3 4 5
Honorable mention
Kevin Scarbinsky, The Birmingham News
Michael Arace, The Columbus Dispatch
John Adams, Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel
David Climer, The Tennessean (Nashville)
Buck Harvey, San Antonio Express-News 1 2 3 4 5
 

EXPLANATORY
1. Kyle Veazey, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.)
2. Lisa Schencker, The Salt Lake Tribune
3. Richard Oliver, San Antonio Express-News
4. Randy Peterson, Des Moines (Iowa) Register
5. Kevin Scarbinsky, The Birmingham (Ala.) News
Honorable mention
Jennie Rees, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.)
Gregg Krupa, The Detroit News
Brendan F. Quinn, Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel
Jason Wolf, The News Journal (Wilmington, Del.)
Hal Habib, The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Fla.)

 
BEAT WRITING
1. Don Coble, The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville)
2. David Briggs, The Blade (Toledo, Ohio)
3. Mike Chappell, Indianapolis Star
4. Todd Jones, Columbus Dispatch
5. Justin Barney, The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville)
Honorable mention
Brendan F. Quinn, Knoxville News Sentinel
Kyle Tucker, Louisville (Ky.) Courier Journal
Sam McKewon, Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald
Jim Wyatt, The Tennessean (Nashville)
Amanda Comak, The Washington Times
 

PROJECTS
1. Nate Rau, Michael Campbell, John Glennon, Jim Wyatt, Jeff Lockridge, Mike Organ, Dave Ammenheuser, Josh Cooper, Deborah Fisher and Steven S. Harman, The Tennessean (Nashville)
2. Rick Bonnell, Gavin Off, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer
3. Jason Wolf, The News Journal (Wilmington, Del.)
4. Lori Riley, Mike Anthony, Paul Doyle, Jeff Otterbein, Jeff Jacobs and John Altavilla, Hartford (Conn.) Courant
5. Dan McCarney, Doug Pils, Terrence Thomas, John Whisler, Jerry Briggs, San Antonio News-Express 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Honorable mention
Paul Woody, Mike Barber, Tammie Smith and Jim Nolan, Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch
Jeff Duncan, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.)
Nathan Fenno, The Washington Times
David Biggy, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press
Jeff Elliott, The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville)

30,000-75,000

BREAKING NEWS
1. John Turner, The Huntsville (Ala.) Times
2. Paul Klee, The News-Gazette (Champaign, Ill.)
3. Adam Jude, George Schroeder, Andrew Greif and staff, The Register-Guard (Eugene, Ore.)
4. Brian Linder, Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal
5. Buddy Shacklette, Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal
Honorable mention
Dan DeLuca, The News-Press (Fort Myers, Fla.)
Seth Emerson, The Telegraph (Macon, Ga.)
Chris Murray and Dan Hinxman, Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal
Todd Porter, The Repository (Canton, Ohio)
Kellis Robinett, The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle
 

FEATURES
1. Paul Klee, The News-Gazette (Champaign, Ill.)
2. Matt Calkins, The Columbian (Vancouver, Wash.)
3. Tom Hanson, Naples (Fla.) Daily News
T4. Pete Iorizzo, Times Union (Albany, N.Y.)
T4. Bob Heist, Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal
Honorable mention
David Briggs, Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune
Bret Strelow, The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer
Stephen Schramm, The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer
Jason Wolf, Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record
David Teel, Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)
 

COLUMNS
1. George Schroeder, The Register-Guard (Eugene, Ore.)
2. Tom Musick, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, Ill.) 1 2 3 4 5
T3. Scott Michaux, Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle
T3. Brian Murphy, Idaho Statesman
5. Steve Solloway, Portland (Maine) Press Herald 1 2 3 4 5
Honorable mention
David Teel, Daily Press (Newport News, Va.) 1 2 3 4 5
Bret Strelow, The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer 1 2 3 4 5
Stephen Schramm, The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer 1 2 3 4 5
John Blanchette, The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.)
Austin Meek, Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal
 

EXPLANATORY
1. Seth Soffian, The News-Press (Fort Myers, Fla.)
2. Jeff Sanders, North County Times (Escondido, Calif.)
3. Bob Asmussen, The News-Gazette (Champaign, Ill.)
4. Kellis Robinett, The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle
5. Brian Linder, Buddy Shacklette, Sean Kernan and Brent Woronoff, Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal
Honorable mention
James Allen, Times Union (Albany, N.Y.)
Stephen Schramm, The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer
Kevin Brockway, Gainesville (Fla.) Sun
Jason Wolf, Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record
Steve T. Gorches, The Post-Tribune (Merrillville, Ind.)
 

BEAT WRITING
1. Leighton Ginn, The Desert Sun (Palm Spring, Calif.)
2. Gary Meenaghan, Abu Dhabi National, U.A.E.
3. Kellis Robinett, The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle
4. Tom Musick, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, Ill.) 1 2 3 4 5
5. Seth Emerson, The Telegraph (Macon, Ga.) 1 2 3 4 5
Honorable mention
Chad Cripe, Idaho Statesman (Boise)
Norm Wood, Daily Press (Newport News, Va.) 1 2 3 4 5
Dan DeLuca, The News-Press (Fort Myers, Fla.)
Scott Bair, North County (Calif.) Times
Chris Murray, Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal
 

PROJECTS
1. Ira Schoffel, Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat
2. Staff, Middletown (N.Y.) Times Herald-Record
3. Jim Rossow, The News-Gazette (Champaign, Ill.)
4. Mike Lowe, Glenn Jordan, Steve Solloway, Portland (Maine) Press Herald
5. Brian Hiro, North County Times (Escondido, Calif.) 1 2 3
Honorable mention
Josh Weir, Canton (Ohio) Repository
Dan DeLuca, The News-Press (Fort Myers, Fla.)
Mark Lazerus, The Post-Tribune (Merrillville, Ind.)
Jonathan Heeter, The Telegraph (Macon, Ga.) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Powell Latimer, Wilmington (N.C.) StarNews 1 2 3 4

UNDER 30,000

BREAKING NEWS
1. Mike Szvetitz, Opelika-Auburn (Ala.)
2. Anna Grearson, The Barre-Montpelier (Vt.) Times Argus
3. Neil Warner, Daily Herald (Provo, Utah)
4. Brendan Meyer, Shaina Cavazos, Zach Murdock, MIke Vorel, Jacob Kim and Eric Short, Columbia Missourian
5. Julie Jag and Jim Seimas, Santa Cruz Sentinel (Scotts Valley, Calif.)
Honorable mention
Ben Frederickson, Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune
Steve Nitz, Daily Chronicle (DeKalb, Ill.)
Kalle Oakes, Sun Journal Lewiston (Maine)
Tim Trower, Mail Tribune (Medford, Ore.)
Andrew Carroll, Jason Morton, The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News
 

FEATURES
1. Tommy Deas, The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News
2. Ryan Wood, Opelika-Auburn (Ala.) News
3. Mike Miller, The Herald-Times (Bloomington, Ind.)
T4. Ben Frederickson, Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune
T4. Brendan Meyer, Columbia Missourian
Honorable mention
Jason Gonzalez, Antelope Valley Press (Palmdale, Calif.)
Ryan Wood, Daily Chronicle (DeKalb, Ill.)
Ben Baby, Denton (Texas) Record-Chronicle
Sarah Bricker, Columbia Missourian
Chase Goodbread, The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News
 

COLUMNS
1. Andy Graham, The Herald-Times (Bloomington, Ind.)
2. Jonathan Bombulie, The Citizens’ Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)
3. Peter Jackel, Racine (Wis.) Journal Times 1 2 3 4 5
4. Alex Riley, Wyoming Tribune Eagle 1 2 3 4 5
5. Robert Gagliardi, Wyoming Tribune Eagle 1 2 3 4 5
Honorable mention
Bob Sutton, Burlington (N.C.) Times-News
Jeremy Price The Herald-Times (Bloomington, Ind.)
Tom Keegan, Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World
Kalle Oakes,Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine) 1 2 3 4 5
Ryan Howe, Times-News (Twin Falls, Idaho)

 
EXPLANATORY
1. Julie Jag, Santa Cruz Sentinel (Scotts Valley, Calif.)
2. Ryan Wood, Opelika-Auburn (Ala.) News
3. Michael Bonner, The Post-Star (Glens Falls, N.Y.)
4. Christopher James, Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Mass.)
5. Anthony Zilis, Daily Chronicle (DeKalb, Ill.)
Honorable mention
David Henry, The Beaumont (Texas) Enterprise
Christopher Dabe, David Henry and Jared Ainsworth, The Beaumont (Texas) Enterprise
Kalle Oakes, Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine)
Andrew Wagaman, Columbia Missourian
Jim Seimas, Santa Cruz Sentinel (Scotts Valley, Calif.)
 

Byrne will take office during the APSE summer conference June 26-29 in Detroit. She will join incoming president Tim Stephens of CBS Sports Interactive and incoming first vice president Mike Sherman of The Oklahoman as officers for 2013-2014. 

Byrne will serve one year as second vice president, one year as first vice president and ascend to the presidency of APSE for 2015-2016. She became managing editor at USA Today Sports last year after nearly six years as deputy sports editor with the Associated Press. Byrne previously served as Olympics editor for USA Today and spent eight years in a variety of leadership roles at the Miami Herald. Byrne, who also worked at the Waterbury (Conn.) Republican-American, began her career as a copy editor for the Oceanside (Calif.) Blade-Citizen.

Courtyard — $129 and does not include breakfast (an in-house bistro has breakfast for sale); kings and doubles are available

Residence Inn — $139 and includes breakfast. One queen bed and one queen pullout sofa in each room (no room has two beds)

– Free internet access
– $10 parking for overnight guests
– Free parking for daily drive-ins

The hotels are 3/4 of a mile from the Campus Center and 1 1/2 blocks from a campus shuttle stop. The shuttle stops at the Campus Center. It takes 3 minutes by shuttle to reach the Campus Center.

The hotels are within walking business of downtown

Most of the meetings and judging will take place in the Campus Center of IUPUI.
University Place Conference Center and Hotel, our host hotel in 2011, is being converted to university housing and is not available.

As voted on earlier, the Winter Meetings will return to the DoubleTree Suites in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., in 2015.

"There was never a time when we questioned this," Bilinski said. "There was never a tip. We never thought about a death certificate." 

For the week following Deadspin's original article, the Te'o saga was played out on A1 of the paper. Bilinski said they couldn't reach Te'o and struggled to get to his parents despite Hansen's relationship with the family, which dated back to when Te'o was recruited to Notre Dame.

The Tribune worked the Te'o story from the recruiting angle, asking potential Notre Dame recruits what they had heard and what they thought of the situation. They made sure to put together a timeline so readers could see the steps and how it all played together.

Bilinski said Hansen received very few negative comments from within the community and much of the feedback was support because of criticism the Tribune had taken from national media.

Overall, Bilinski said he hoped others would learn from mistakes made during this story and noted that many people, even outside the media industry, have learned things about trusting people on the internet.

"It makes you stop and think about all the things you're told," Bilinski said. "We've always said get corroboration, get two sources. We had four pretty good ones we thought. There are times when we should be able to learn something and I hope we did throughout all this."

Bilinski said the Tribune had a staff meeting two weeks after the Deadspin story published, including 30-40 people, and discussed what had been learned from the Te'o girlfriend hoax. Bilinski said that after the initial story mentioning Kekua ran, they didn't think about it again, moving on to special sections and more football coverage.

He said the Tribune was planning a book on Notre Dame's season, with Te'o on the cover, but the Kekua story delayed that process.

"Did our credibility take a hit? To some it did," Bilinski said. "But we did not create these facts."

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell definitely had a busy afternoon. He had lunch with the former players who were helping make selections during the second and third rounds of the NFL Draft that night. He joined New Jersey governor Chris Christie at the Hoboken Boys and Girls Club to announce a charity effort to spend $2 million on rebuilding places for youth that were damaged by superstorm Sandy last fall.

And in between, he returned to NFL offices in Manhattan to spend about a half-hour with APSE editors.

His take various topics:

- On rules designed to make the game safer: "The game is safer and better. We're seeing the game change. The players are adjusting, the coaches are adjusting. Rule 6 (not leading the the crown of your helmet) … the coaches recognized we need to get the shoulder (tackle) back in the game and not the helmet. The helmet shouldn't be used a as a weapon. If we do it at the NFL level, it will happen in college, high school, youth and other levels."

- On the Super Bowl in New York: "I feel a lot more buzz about the Super Bowl, but perhaps that's because I've not lived in a city that has hosted the Super Bowl before …"

"There will be weather. We can't control what that will be, but we can be prepared for every (possibility)."

- On security for fans in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings: "It's always an imperative for us. We try to keep all of our fans safe around any of our events. We take pride in it."

- On putting a team in Los Angeles: "We don't consider it dead, not at all. There is dialogue with every site. … I think it's unfortunate for the market, fans and NFL (that there isn't a team in L.A.). Our intent is having a team there when we get stadiums built. … We're going to have to find a solution in L.A."

- On the fan experience at home compared to at the stadium: "Nothing's better than to be in an NFL stadium with 75,000 fans. We have to continue to find ways to enhance that experience."

- On whether there's anything new on HGH testing: "Unfortunately not. We offered (the players' association) the same appeal process that's available in baseball. We're doing everything we can to make them say yes (to testing)."

- On the role of journalism: "It's very important. I learned that early on as an intern in the public relations department. You are still a major conduit to our fans. There are more avenues than 20, 30 years ago, but it's still a major conduit."

- On his legacy as commissioner: "I don't look back very much. We have too many challenges in front of us. We want to make the game safer and more exciting. I'm just focused on football."

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, meanwhile, said his league was back in a good place after a season that was shortened by a work stoppage.

“If you skip the first part … we’re having a great season,” Bettman said, noting increased TV ratings in the U.S. and Canada and an attendance at 94 percent of capacity league-wide.

“Nobody wanted to be in the position where we weren’t playing,” he said. “Labor relations is a process. Three of the four major leagues (in the U.S.) have had work stoppage issues recently. We had to have the right deal, the right system.”

The 10-year agreement means the NHL won’t have those worries again soon and will be good for the league’s business partners and fans. “We never want to take our fans for granted,” Bettman said. “We may not have as large a fan base, but none are more avid than ours.” 

To that end, the NHL is considering “multiple games” in “multiple cities” for its popular Jan. 1 outdoor game.

“Outdoor hockey brings chills,” Bettman said. “It is our roots. The fan experience of the game, the tailgating … that’s unprecedented.”

He said many franchises inquire about hosting, but he wasn’t ready to make any announcements. “I tell the teams that want one, they may have to wait 10-15 years because there’s so much interes,” he said. “And those that have hosted and want another, I tell them the same thing.”

The interest isn’t limited to northern climates. Florida and Southern California (Dodger Stadium) have made inquires as well. “If we ever had a game in Southern California, the results would be extraordinary,” Bettman said.

The league is still working on an arrangement for its players to participate in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. And while Bettman recognizes hockey players history of playing for their national teams, says Sochi presents more problems such as time-difference (meaning fewer live games on prime-time TV in the U.S.) and longer distance.
And although he said the league was stronger now, it was not considering expansion or the relocation of any franchises.

The day began with a trip to the Associated Press office and a sit-down with USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun and chief communication and public affairs officer Patrick Sandusky.

Hot topics included bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The only campaign that Blackmun would identify was a joint, cross-border bid between San Diego and Tijuana. Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Tulsa have all announced their own interest in being host cities.

The U.S. bid unsuccessfully for the 2012 and 2016 Games.

"We're in discussion with about 10 cities actively now,'' Blackmun said. "USOC's Blackmun on 2024 bid: "We're not sure we're going to submit a bid, but we do think it's important to get the Games back in the U.S."

Blackmun also advocated for wrestling, softball and baseball to be added back to the Olympics, and spoke of plans for Sochi — particularly security, noting that the USOC is working with the State Department in advance of the Games.

On other topics:

Backmun appreciates social media's impact on the Olympics: "Kobe (Bryant) is telling stories about beach volleyball? It doesn't get better than that."

Blackmun cites American skier Lindsey Vonn and theU.S. women's hockey team as likely faces to watch during the 2014 Games.

– Jeff Rosen (Kansas City Star), Gene Warnick (Los Angeles Daily News) and Reid Laymance (Houston Chronicle).